Definition of a #teacherfangirl: when Teacher A thinks Teacher B is so amazing that they spend time trying to teach more like Teacher A. In this situation, Cris Tovani, a talented, thoughtful English teacher (and book writer) with decades of teaching experience is teacher A and I am teacher B (but you probably figured that out by now).

Cris has been working with my school district over the past two years to improve our literacy programming. Consequently, Gretchen and I have had the chance to delve into her work and to hear her speak on multiple occasions. She's fantastic and has altered my teaching practice in so many positive ways. So for our 100th blog post (yes -- you heard me right -- one hundred!), Gretchen and I thought we would share the love by sharing with our readers some of the truths we've learned from Cris (yes, I can call her Cris because I am her #fangirl). Because as you know, when teachers share great ideas Bubbleup.

Summer's here...or almost here for most of us! That's right, in Northern Virginia school is STILL in session! Just three more days! We've got sunshine, flip-flops, beach books, and of course, professional development on our minds. It's important to take time in the summer to focus on our professional practice so that we can come back to school in August, prepped and ready to engage with our new students.

This week we are thrilled to have our pointers for finding ways to reflect, reach out and re-imagine featured on the ASCD Inservice blog. How will you recharge this summer?

Branding has come up recently in education, largely due to the April publication of a book written by Eric Sheninger and Trish Rubin called BrandED: Tell Your Story, Build Relationships, and Empower Learning. I have long been fascinated by brands and branding, perhaps driven by the time I spent working as a librarian at an advertising agency and later at a big pharmaceutical and consumer goods company. I love the idea of bringing branding into schools and building a professional brand. And, I find it makes such logical sense as the director of a library program because our goals so closely align with the purpose of branding: We need to share our library story, communicate our messaging, and build relationships.

School librarian -- it's a fantastic job. I feel confident that I, unquestioningly, have the best job in the school (okay, maybe I'm tied for best job with my co-librarian). I love talking to people who are considering a school library media certification and helping to grow our incredible profession.

But I get concerned when I hear that someone wants to be a librarian because they are tired of teaching, because they want a desk job, because it's less work. Because, well, it isn't. Every level is different -- I speak with the voice of a middle school librarian. And I really want you to join this magical field, but I want you to do it for the right reasons.

Education today is so much bigger than our libraries, our schools and districts. At the same time, our jobs as school librarians are often lonely--we might be the only one in our building (or in several buildings), we may not have clerical assistance, or a larger team for support. In fact, even with many of those things (I am incredibly lucky to be one of two librarians in my school and part of a resource-laden school district with a fantastic coordinator who tirelessly advocates for and supports our programs), I think we have a real professional obligation to keep learning and to expand our growth beyond our school and district levels.

There are so many ways to connect with professional colleagues, but here are 5 places to start. And if all of these are new to you, choose one and test the waters.

We are so close to summer, I can taste it...I can feel the sunshine...I can sense the adventure. I love this time of year for a chance to step back, spend more time with my own children, and slow down a bit. But, I also love what I do for a living and am grateful to have summer to be able to focus more on growing as a teacher and a librarian. I read a lot of middle grades and YA fiction for fun, but I like to consume professional development books when I have more breathing room (shocker: this librarian loves to read!). There are some phenomenal recent titles (and one less recent but still on my list) out there that I know will help me to be more creative and are certain to energize my practice as an educator.

﻿So I am late to the Twitter party. While I've had a Twitter account for years, it was dormant. I just didn't get how to use it really and frankly didn't see the value. Then I saw what my daughter's school was doing with Twitter and decided to give it another shot. I set up a classroom Twitter feed this fall to share the occasional photo of my students doing something fun or creative.

I didn't jump into Twitter completely, instead I dipped my toe in....very slowly. But baby step by baby step, I found myself immersed and it has changed by teaching practice by tuning me on to a world of innovation and creativity that was happening in the Twitter-sphere. If you are the me of the past, wondering how the heck Twitter can help you teach, read on...

Last week we rolled out our first BubbleUp Take5 post and it was so much fun that we thought we'd make it a regular thing. We will sometimes include a random collection of links, periodically we will have a theme of some sort; our overall goal with Take5 is to curate and share resources that we find valuable.

So, do you have a moment or two? Check out this week's BubbleUp Take5 -- we talk innovation, summer camp, primary sources, and more!